The past two weeks have been full of travel! With seismic stations being located all over Costa Rica, the seismic team has been to most corners of the country. This past weekend, the entire group traveled to the most south western tip of the country to conduct field work. Where other teams worked on either landslide observation or geo-location, our group did the classic servicing of a seismic station!
After traveling along the pacific coast towards panama, we ended up at a Biological and Ecological Reservation. Students from all around North America had gathered there as an internship to gain experience in studying animals and plants. It was interesting to speak with these students and see how different their research was compared to ours. Where we are studying the natural processes of the earth, they study the natural organisms that live on it. Whether it is the plants that grow on the reservation or the hundred types of lizards that live within it, there is a student dedicated to understanding each type of organism that call this place its home.
We arrived at the reservation Friday night and started our work on Saturday, where we drove up unfinished roads, passed by gated private areas, and made it to our seismic station. Luckily, being the last station we planned to visit, everything worked just fine! In some cases, there are issues with the seismometer which requires a lot more work, but that was not the case. Since me and Joyce finished early servicing the station, we had the pleasure joining Kyle, Rosa, and Paulo finding landslides. Taking scenic routes that allow us to observe sides of mountains was definitely a lucky break for our group.
Unfortunately, traveling two weeks straight has its downfalls. I haven't been feeling too well on the count of some sinus issues the past few days, hence the late blog. It must be the constant change of altitude and none stop driving to many different areas of the country. I commend any geoscientist who's sole job is to service these stations all of the country (aka the technician 'Gato' who's done this for over 30 years), it really takes it out of you. But all in all, done with traveling! time to work in the seismic lab and locate some earthquakes!!!
The seismic team servicing its last station of the trip